Monday, November 30, 2015

"Coconut lovers will have extra reason to celebrate when they taste these cake-like drop cookies. The generous frosting and coconut topping make them a hit at holiday cookie parties."
—Donna Scofield, Yakima, Washington

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015

SAM SIFTON

Good morning. Winston Churchill was born on this day in 1874, and though his obituary in The Times doesn't say it, he was finicky about his dinner. We'll cook in his honor tonight.
We'll start with Champagne, obviously. It was Churchill's drink of choice. (Pol Roger Champagne, if you want to be historically accurate. "My tastes are simple," he reportedly said of it. "I am easily satisfied by the best.")
Then Martha Rose Shulman's recipe for porcini consommé, since he liked a clear soup but not a cream-based one, followed by roast chicken. We'll use Lawrie Colwin's recipe for that because the two of them may have gotten along. On the side: some Vichy carrots he may have raised an eyebrow at, at least until he tasted them. And then cheese.
Or, look, it's his birthday: ice cream, which you can buy if you don't want to make Julia Moskin's absurdly easy recipe for it, adorned withmolten chocolate ganache. No brandies or cigars. It's a work night.
Don't want to play this game? Cooking has loads of other recipes for tonight and coming days. We'd be into David Tanis's recipe for sake-steamed kabocha squash with white miso for dinner ourselves. Also, Florence Fabricant's recipe for poached fish with shiitakes (above).
This could be an excellent week for making David's recipe for North African meatballs. And for knocking down Julia's recipe for a foolproof tarte Tatin while you're at it. Maybe you'd like to read aboutthese awesome soy-pickled eggs?
Finally, and not to put too fine a point on it, there are only 31 days left before the end of the year. If this is going to be the one when you finally and forever learn to make pizza, this is the week to start. We'll help you. It's as easy as clicking this link.
Even more inspiration for weeknight cooking is on our site. Save the recipes that interest you to your recipe box, and rate them on a scale of one to five stars once you've cooked them through. (Check out my recipe box, if you like.) Leave notes on the recipes to which you'd like to suggest emendations - this one works great with a splash of vinegar, for instance, or this other one freezes well.
If you run into any problems along the way, let us know. Our crew atcookingcare@nytimes.com is ace, and stands by to help. (If you have a philosophical issue, however, or just have something really mean to say, take it straight to me: foodeditor@nytimes.com.) Here's hoping all that you cook this week is delicious, and that December dawns for you bright and happy.
Now, check out Cody Townsend skiing this incredible line last winter up in Alaska. It reminds us of nothing so much as our Thanksgiving dinner last week, frankly. See you on Wednesday.

FLORENCE FABRICANT

Don't forget to date it on the bottom so you will remember your child's age when you did it! heart emoticon

What a simple little project that will create a lifetime keepsake!!!

heart emoticon REINDEER THUMBPRINT ORNAMENTS heart emoticon

What you need:black permanent markerornament (matte finish works best)brown and red acrylic paint

Paint child's (or your own) thumb with the brown paint and place thumbprint on ornament. Allow paint to dry (about 15-20 mins) then using the permanent marker make the antlers and eyes, we used the tip of a paintbrush and the red paint for the nose, but I am sure it could be done with a marker as well.

Don't forget to date it on the bottom so you will remember your child's age when you did it! heart emoticon

Music

Songs About Food

WHAT IF? An imaginary record cover for a compilation of food-inspired music.

AOL recently contacted me to create a playlist of food-inspired songs for its "Blogger Radio" station on AOL Radio (see below for details on how to listen). After much digging through my own music collection (and some serendipitous searching online), I came up with 100 songs.

There's a heavy emphasis upon jazz and blues, a slathering of R&B, a douse of hip-hop, along with a sprinkling of pop classics and a dusting of heavy metal (o.k., just one -- Def Leppard's cheesetastic "Pour Some Sugar on Me").

As I pored over all of this gastro-music, it became pretty clear that food is more often than not a (barely veiled) euphemism for sex. Candy seems to trump just about everything edible as the most frequent object of desire. Other songs are culinary in name only (take Taste of Honey's "Sukiyaki," for example), while others immerse themselves in a heady contemplation of appetite -- I'm thinking here of the Fat Boys' great, tragicomic "Jail House Rap." And then there's food as abstraction in the form of Dizzy Gillespie's manic be-bop standard, "Salt Peanuts."

You can find the complete playlist (in alphabetical order) below. It's not comprehensive, so if you have a favorite food song that isn't covered here, please share it in the comments.

Tune In: For PC Users, listen by clicking here. If you're on a Mac, download the AOL Radio player, log in with your AOL/AIM screenname, and select "Blogger Radio" under the "Soundtracks & Themes" category. The playlist will be up until June 14, when the station gets turned over to the next DJ/blogger.

Tasty! Songs for Food Lovers

All That Meat And No Potatoes by Fats Waller

All You Can Eat by the Fat Boys

Artichoke by Cibo Matto

Augustus Gloop by Danny Elfman

Augustus Gloop by The Poozies

Banana Boat (Day-O) by Harry Belafonte

Beans And Cornbread by Louis Jordan

Beef Jerky by Cibo Matto

Birthday Cake by Cibo Matto

Black Coffee In Bed by Squeeze

Bowl Of Oranges by Bright Eyes

Brown Sugar by D'Angelo

Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones

Candy by Cameo

Candy by Morphine

Candy (Drippin' Like Water) by Snoop Dogg

Candy Shop by 50 Cent

Catfish by Bob Dylan

Catfish Blues by Jimi Hendrix

Chicken Grease by D'Angelo

Chicken Noodle Soup by Webstar & Young B

Chicken Soup With Rice by Carole King

Chocolate Buttermilk by Kool & The Gang

Chocolate City by Parliament

Chocolate Factory by R. Kelly

Choux Pastry Heart by Corinne Bailey Rae

Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk by Rufus Wainwright

Cookin' by Clifford Brown

Crawfish by Elvis Presley

Days Of Wine And Roses by Henry Mancini

Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost by Lonnie Donegan

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About Me

My passions: family, planning Nana camp for my grandchildren each summer, nature, reading, writing, entertaining, flower gardening, bird watching & travel. Many years planning programs & events for senior adults. My most important passion is knowing that He died so that I may live!
The Imaginary Journeys of BJ and Dobbin is my first children's history book, available at Amazon.
Coming Next: BJ and Dobbin continue their imaginary journeys in The Presidents & First Ladies.